Once we had arrived at the villa Genghis settled in very quickly. He seemed to remember he had been there before and looked immediately at home running around the garden to explore his domain. I was worried that someone might leave the garden gate open and he would get out so I attached a notice in Turkish “Dikkat Kopek Var!” (beware of the dog) to the gate and also tied it shut with some yellow plastic tape which I hoped would alert people to the fact that we wanted the gate to remain closed at all times. In the event the tape and sign seemed to do the trick and people coming into the garden made sure they closed the gate behind them. Consequently there was no escape from Alcatraz.
Suzanne told me that Genghis had chewed up his little blue bone-shaped bed while at the kennels so I made him a temporary bed out of a blanket and an old sheet and he was quite happy to sleep on that at night although he often just lay down on the marble floor during the day as that was cooler. October in Cyprus is lovely and hot still and one of my favorite times of the year to visit but then I don’t have to live in a furry coat like my canine friend.
On several evenings Genghis had a visit from a stray dog who came to say hello to him through the gate. The dog was an attractive English pointer type who looked to be around 3 or 4 years old and very friendly. Naturally I wondered where he had come from and where he went when he left our garden gate and I hoped he would be OK and that some kind person would look after him. He actually seemed to be in a reasonable condition so although I wanted to feed him I resisted the urge to do so because I could not offer him a home and I did not want him to think that I could. Also I could not bear the thought of him coming to the villa after we had left looking for me, expecting to be fed and finding that I had abandoned him to his fate.